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California wildfire grows to 43 square miles

Firefighters have blaze just 20 percent contained

By Raquel Maria Dillonand John Rogers Associated Press

Posted:
05/03/2013 10:39:57 PM MDT

Updated:
05/03/2013 10:40:43 PM MDT

CAMARILLO, Calif. -- It seemed that each time wind-driven embers sparked new blazes or a wall of fire leaped a Southern California hillside and came charging toward hundreds of homes, an army of firefighters was right there to either douse or direct the flames away from humanity.

As a result, the fire that broke out Thursday quickly moved through the Camarillo Springs area without destroying a single home.

Firefighters were hoping for the same success on Friday, as the fire raged out of control miles away near the coast.

Fifteen structures in the area 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles sustained some damage, and other homes in a wooded area were being threatened Friday by the blaze that had roared across 43 square miles. Some 900 firefighters using engines, aircraft, bulldozers and other equipment had it just 20 percent contained. Since daybreak, the fire has nearly tripled in size.

"That's the way this fire has behaved, it has been a very fast-moving, feisty fire," said Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash.

To the north of the fire, parts of the Newbury Park community of Thousand Oaks are under mandatory and voluntary evacuations, Nash said.

Overnight, Nash said firefighters plan to stockpile resources along a road that lies between the fire and Malibu, protecting homes on the fire's eastern front.

Of the thousands of homes threatened by flames, 15 have been damaged.

The good fortune of the Camarillo Springs area wasn't the result of luck or clairvoyance by firefighters.

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It came after years of planning and knowing that sooner or later just such a conflagration was going to strike.

"When developers want to go into an area that is wild-land, it's going to present a unique fire problem," county fire spokesman Tom Kruschke said. "And you have to be prepared for that."

Camarillo Springs, which was nothing more than rugged backcountry when homes began to go up there 30 years ago, was well prepared.

Its homes were built with sprinkler systems and fireproof exteriors from the roofs to the foundations. Residents are required to clear brush and other combustible materials to within 100 feet of the dwellings, and developers had to make sure the cul-de-sacs that fill the area's canyons were built wide enough to accommodate the emergency vehicles seen on TV racing in to battle the flames.

"All of our rooftops are concrete tile and all of the exteriors are stucco," said Neal Blaney, a board member of The Springs Homeowners Association and a 15-year resident. "There's no wood, so there's almost no place for a flying ember to land and ignite something."

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